I ENJOY this game and prefer it to the way it was before. In some ways, I even find it easier as well (I certainly never had a glimmer of hope in winning the monthly badge previously).

Other than obvious typos, I can't complain about the words themselves either. Spelling variants don't bother me in the least. Sure, on RARE occasions, some clues or answers appear to be incomplete. However, you can almost always eliminate the other possibilities and choose the one expected.

This game has been made even BETTER by the mini challenge (which has surely gotten folks to play who had given up on it once they had won all the "normal" badges).

So now there are two ways to play the game. If you're going for the regular badges, you have to play pretty quickly and get 14/15 correct every time. But if you're just playing the game for the mini challenge, you can actually play at quite a leisurely pace compared to other games and have plenty of time to read each and every question twice. You only need 1150 as a score in order to get a letter, so if folks just slow down a little (keeping in mind they can't be concerned about finishing in number 1 spot every hour) they'd probably find they can re-read q's/think about them longer and end up "winning" a letter almost every go.

The letter swap ability is a hoot - makes me laugh every time I make a change - so thanks very much for the creation of it AND the game : )

_________________________
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense- Gertrude Stein

Tiny: "Camise" is a perfectly valid word. Originating from Arabic qamis and from Late Latin camisia. The word camisole (sleeveless tunic style undergarment) comes ultimately from the same roots, with a little Italian/French influence.

The word "chemise" has the same origins, but with heavy anglo/french influences. However, it generally refers more often to a woman's dress (or slip) style, rather than a shirt.

It can't be "chamise" because that's an evergreen shrub.

Edited by Jakeroo (Fri Oct 15 201004:44 PM)

_________________________
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense- Gertrude Stein

I knew mine wasn't the right answer, but excuse me? I cannot understand this question and answer at all.

This came from Word Wizard today between 5 PM & 6 PM CDT.

5. Street names for gamma hydroxybutyrate

Your answer: harquebus

harquebus means "an obsolete firearm with a long barrel"

The correct answer was grievous bodily harm

~~Tiny

The party drug called Grievous Bodily Harm, or GBH for short, has the chemical name gamma hydroxybutyrate. Hence, Grievous Bodily Harm, or GBH would be called a street name for this drug. You'll find more of these strange street names in the database if you play enough hours!

Since that definition doesn't really tell us what drug they're talking about out on the street, I copied this bit of entry from the non-medical uses article at wiki for gHB (CNS is Central Nervous System):::

GHB is a CNS depressant used as an intoxicant. It has many street names, including "Georgia Home Boy", "Liquid Ecstasy", "Liquid X", and "Liquid G", as well as "Fantasy" and the reordered initialism GBH.

Edited by mehaul (Fri Oct 15 201010:10 PM)

_________________________If you aren't seeing Heaven while you dream, you're doing something wrong.Dreams allow escape from the passage of Time.The ultimate activity is the Dream.

I've just had the identical definition twice in one game: 'Eat a lot and without restraint'. The first answer was 'gluttonise' and the second was 'fress'. I just hope that both answers don't appear together. I must admit that 'fress' is new to me - it's not listed in 'Chambers' and I haven't had time to search online for its derivation.

Dippo - your derivation for 'fress' is spot on - Urban Dictionary refers to German and Yiddish and quotes both 'fressen' and 'essen' with the distinction between animals and humans. I love learning new things - it's one of the many reasons I enjoy FT so much.

Haha, looney_tunes! Don't you just hate it when you do a misspelling correction and then misspell something in the correction? "rather" gained an "r" in your note above. I've done this and it is embarrassing. Guess I couldn't resist yours.

Today's Word Wizard had an incorrect spelling. "Broach" is not a decorative pin-that word is spelled "brooch." Some dictionaries to list broach as an alternate spelling, but since it is another word, I think this was incorrect. "Broach" means to bring up or mention for the first time, as in "he was reluctant to broach the difficult topic."